Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) (七人の侍)

Toho Co., Ltd

Seven Samurai

Produced by Sôjirô Motoki

Screenplay by

Akira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai

Music by Fumio Hayasaka

Starring

Toshirô Mifune

Takashi Narita

Keiko Tsushima

Yukiko Shimazaki

Kamatari Fujiwara Daisuke Katô

Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki Seiji Miyaguchi

Bokuzen Hidari Yoshio Inaba, Yoshio Tsuchiya

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

During the Civil Wars,

an endless cycle of conflict left the countryside overrun by bandits.

Peaceable folk lived in terror of the thunder of approaching hooves ….

Take this village too?

Take it! Take it!

Not so fast!

We just took their rice last fall.

They’ll have nothing now.

Very well.

We’ll return when that barley’s ripe!

Is there no god to protect us?

Land tax, forced labor, war, drought …

and now bandits!

The gods want us farmers dead!

That’s right! We’re better off dead!

What’s all this? Crying won’t change anything.

The magistrate can do more than collect taxes.

We can ask him for help.

We know all about him!

He shows up after they’re gone, acting big while he surveys the damage.

That’s right. He’s useless.

We might as well hand over our rice and barley to the bandits

and just hang ourselves!

That’ll bring the magistrate here in a hurry!

We’ll kill those bandits.

We’ll kill them all.

Never again! Let’s kill ’em all!

Not me!

I couldn’t possibly -

That’s crazy talk.

So we can kill defeated samurai but not bandits?

Stop it! This is no time to fight amongst ourselves.

We don’t have a chance against bandits. And when we lose?

They’ll slaughter us all, down to the last unborn child.

I’ve had enough! Better to risk it all

than to live like this. Kill or be killed!

Rikichi!

The farmer’s only choice is to endure.

We can’t defy the powerful.

When the bandits arrive, we’ll greet them meekly

and quietly hand over all our barley.

We’ll plead with them to leave just enough for us to survive.

“That’s all we ask”, we’ll beg on our hands and knees.

What bandit will agree to that?

Have you forgotten how low we had to stoop for the rice we’re eating now?

We should go see the Old Man.

Let him decide what to do.

Consider who we’re dealing with here.

Give a wolf a taste of your leg and he’ll ask for your hand.

Once they have a taste, they’ll be back in the fall.

—But what if we lose? —Then we’re no worse off!

Without our barley, we’re doomed anyway!

We fight.

Old Man, that’s madness.

We’re farmers. What do we know of battle?

We’ll hire samurai.

Whoever heard of farmers hiring samurai?

I saw it with my own eyes,

when the village you were born in was torched.

I saw it when we escaped to this village here.

The only village that didn’t burn was the one that hired samurai.

But Old Man, there are different kinds of villages and villagers.

How are we to feed samurai when we live on rice gruel?

We’ll make do on millet!

Show me a samurai who’ll fight for farmers in return for food!

They’re a proud lot.

Look.

Find hungry samurai.

Even bears come down from the mountains when they’re hungry.

How dare you?

You’re nothing but a farmer! I’m still a samurai!

I don’t need your charity!

Fool!

What’d I tell you?

Look, the barley’s ripe.

Ten days already since we left the village.

What do we do?

This barley’s early, not like our mountain barley.

Hey, we’re soaked through to the bone.

Find any cheap, strong and foolhardy samurai?

Leftovers.

You can have ’em cheap.

That’s a laugh!

—What’s so funny? —He’s blind.

—What about you, then? —Not me.

I’d rather eat horse-shit.

—Won’t get a nose bleed outta him. —Cleaned him out gambling last night.

Pulled his sword when he lost, so the three of us beat him up.

Not a drop left in his nose now.

Don’t bother. They only eat millet.

Is that true? You can’t live like that.

Without nourishment you’ll go night-blind.

I’ve got just four left.

I’ll trade ’em all for a cup of rice.

What do you say?

Damn! What a bunch.

What a waste.

If we still had that rice, we could’ve bought 40 of those.

Shut up!

But it’s true, right?

The blockhead’s cracking up!

What a show. Go at it, boys.

Who ever heard of anything so unfair?

We give him his fill of rice and a free bottle of sake,

and he thanks us with a beating.

Good for him!

Not like this one playing possum here.

Say, let’s go home. Let’s just go home.

Look at him sobbing.

Misses his wifey.

I’d pay good money to watch the two of ’em going at it.

Let’s hurry and get back to the village.

Go on home. You can’t afford buns, let alone samurai.

Farmers like us know good from bad when it comes to seed,

but not when it comes to samurai.

Besides, we’re no match for the tough ones,

and the only ones interested are weaklings.

If I lost last night, it was only because I was starving.

Liar! You had plenty of money to gamble.

Jerk!

Wanna fight?

It’s a fight.

Over here! Wake up!

Quit that strumming, monk! It’s depressing!

Keep it up, grandpa. We’re on your side.

Rikichi!

Stop it, Manzō!

You said we were going home, you son of a bitch!

I said we’d go home, not bargain with bandits!

If we can’t hire samurai, what’s left?

It’s bargain or nothing!

Fine, have it your way!

But tell me:

If we do strike a bargain,

what have we got to offer this year?

Are you willing to give ’em your daughter?

Shino’s a fine-lookin’ girl.

What’s going on?

There’s a thief in that barn. We raised a ruckus and he ran in to hide.

How many thieves are there?

Just one.

One?

All of you can’t take a single thief?

We don’t dare make a move. He took a kid in there with him.

Says he’ll kill him if we attack.

Listen. Hear him?

Poor thing.

It all happened in the middle of the night.

Poor kid’s been bawling the better part of a day.

He can barely make a sound now.

He’s only seven. Imagine how his parents feel.

Who’s that samurai getting his head shaved?

No idea. We asked him for help and he agreed right away.

Then he asked us for two rice balls.

He asked a monk to shave his head and lend him his robes.

No idea what he’s up to.

Stay back! Any closer and I kill the brat!

I’m a monk.

Stay back!

I’m just a monk. I mean you no harm.

I won’t come in.

I just thought the child must be very hungry.

I’ve brought some rice balls.

You should eat one yourself.

Won’t you have one?

What’s wrong?

Throw ’em here!

Here.

My baby!

Even you can’t object to a samurai like that.

Ask him quickly. It’ll be harder in town.

What do you want?

My name is Katsushirō Okamoto. Please make me your disciple!

Disciple?

As you see, I’m a rōnin. The name is Kambei Shimada.

I don’t take on disciples.

Get up. I can’t talk to you like this.

I’m begging you - let me be your disciple.

First get off your knees. We’ll talk as we go.

I’m at a loss.

You think far too highly of me.

No, sir -

Just hear me out.

There’s nothing special about me.